Hundred Days

The Hundred Days (20 March-8 July 1815) was the last of the Napoleonic Wars, occurring in the 111 days between Napoleon Bonaparte's return to France from exile on Elba and the Coalition capture of Paris. Napoleon, having been forced to abdicate in April 1814, returned to France from Elba after hearing of discontent in his homeland, as the people hated King Louis XVIII of France for attempting to reverse the progress made by the French Revolution. King Louis sent Michel Ney with an army of 6,000 troops to arrest Napoleon, who was declared an outlaw by the Congress of Vienna, but Ney and his army decided to join forces with Napoleon on 14 March. The next day, King Joachim Murat of Naples declared war on the Austrian Empire to save his throne. King Louis XVIII fled Paris on 19 March 1815, and Napoleon's army entered the city the next day, restoring the First French Empire to power. On 25 March 1815, the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire, Austrian Empire, and Prussia each agreed to contribute 150,000 troops to defeating Napoleon on the field, and the Austrians soundly defeated the Neapolitans at the Battle of Tolentino on 3 May, forcing Murat to abdicate in favor of Ferdinand IV of Naples on 20 May. In June 1815, Napoleon led the French Armee du Nord into Belgium to fight off the Coalition invaders, defeating the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny and fighting the British to a draw at the Battle of Quatre Bras, both on 16 June. On 18 June 1815, the Prussian and British armies teamed up and decisively defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, and the French won a hollow victory during the concurrent Battle of Wavre. On 21 June, Napoleon returned to Paris, defeated, and he abdicated in favor of his son Napoleon II the next day. On 29 June, Napoleon left for western France, and a ceasefire was declared after the Battle of Issy on 3 July. On 7 July 1815, the Prussians entered Paris, and Louis XVIII was restored as king on the next day. Napoleon himself would surrender to the British on HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815, and he was exiled to the Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he died.